Early
years

Career

Toop published his pioneering book on hip hop, Rap Attack, in 1984. Eleven
years later, Ocean of Sound appeared, described as Toop's
"poetic survey of contemporary musical life from Debussy through
Ambient, Techno, and drum 'n' bass."[1] Since
the 1970s, Toop has also been a significant presence on the British
experimental and improvised music scene, collaborating with Max
Eastley, Brian Eno, Scanner, and
others. In 2001, Toop curated the sound art exhibition Sonic
Boom, and the following year, he curated a 2-CD collection
entitled Not Necessarily Enough English Music: A Collection of
Experimental Music from Great Britain, 1960-1977.

From Wikiquote

"It was a DJ style which helped to create the lifestyle which
came to be known as hip hop. At the beginning of the disco era in
the first half of the 1970s, regular disco jocks in clubs were most
concerned with the blend between one record and the next - matching
tempos to make a smooth transition which, at its best, could
continually alter the mood on the dancefloor without breaking the
flow. At its worst the technique could turn the night into one
endless and inevitably boring song."